Suddenly Gone
by Carebeark5
Summary: AU fic where Castle's seven year old daughter goes missing. He and Beckett must work together to find her.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Daddy we're gonna be late for school," Rick heard as he felt the mattress dip as his little girl climbed on the bed.

"A few more minutes, come on lay down with me," he said trying to reach for her.

"No, get up! Get up!," she singsonged bouncing up and down beside him.

"Alright pumpkin, I'm up." He said tolling over and grabbing her mid-bounce. "What do you want for breakfast?" he asked hugging her to him.

"Chocolate chip pancakes," she announced pulling away and jumping off the bed.

As she got dressed for school, Rick shuffled to the kitchen to make their breakfast. A few minutes later she padded into the kitchen, "I'm ready."

"Are you excited about going back to school?" he asked as he placed a pancake on her plate.

"Yeah," she replied stabbing it with her fork.

When they finished eating he put the dishes in the dishwasher and handed her the lunch he made for her. His little girl was growing up so fast. How was it that she was already in the second grade. Pulling up in front of the school he spotted kids running here and there and worried parents desperately trying to let go. He remembered when it was Alexis' first day of kindergarten, he had stayed the whole day just to make sure she was alright. Or at least that's what he told himself.

"Daddy we're gonna be late," Alexis said from the backseat.

"Oh sorry sweetie."

Climbing out of the car he gave her a hug and watched her go. She had insisted she wanted to do this on her own. He made his way back to the car with a sigh, how had his little girl become so grown up? Stopping at Starbucks he grabbed a cup of coffee before heading home to do some writing.

Rick stretched back in his desk chair he had gotten in maybe an hour of writing in between organizing his desk, having an extended lunch break and playing Angry Birds on his phone. He had been experiencing writers block lately and knew he needed something to inspire his creativity. But he was quite sure what that was yet but he hoped he found it soon.

Just then the phone rang and he grabbed it up on the second ring, thankful for the excuse to take another break. "Is this Richard Castle?" the voice on the other end asked.

"Uh...yes it is. Who may I ask is calling?"

"My name is Detective Beckett. I work for the NYPD. I'm sorry to have to tell you this...but it seems your daughter is missing.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

His breath left his body as soon as those words reached his ears. "W-what do you mean she's missing?" he managed to stammer out.

"I just got a call from her school. She never came back after the kids were let out for recess," she replied her voice soothing.

"No, she can't be missing. You...you have to find her."

"You'll need to come down to the station or actually I'll come to you, you shouldn't be driving."

Hearing the knock at the door, Rick raced to open it. "Did you hear anything yet?" he asked as she came inside.

"No I'm sorry but we will find her," She said hesitating before placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"We looked around the schoolyard and surrounding area. There's no sign of her. Do you happen to have a picture of your daughter?" she asked.

"Yes right here," he said staring at it before handing it to her.

"We want to put her picture out there so we can see if anyone has seen her."

xxxxx

"Are we going to see daddy now?" Alexis asked the stranger from the backseat of the silver Porshe.

"We sure are little one," the woman replied with a smirk.

Alexis looked out the window at the houses whizzing by, "I can't wait to tell him all about my day," She said cheerfully. Finally they pulled up in front of a small, white cottage which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. "Where are we?" she asked looking at the house in front of them. Bending down in front of her the woman said, "You're daddy set up a special surprise just for you. He'll be here in a few days and wants you to wait here for him while he gets everything together.

"Oh ok. I wonder what it is."

"It's gotta be pretty special for someone like you," she said ruffling Alexis' hair a little.

Alexis followed her into the house and looked around. It was a lot smaller than her own house, but it was nice. "What are we gonna do until he gets here? I don't have any toys."

"I thought you'd say that and guess what? I got you a little present," she said handing her a bag full of barbies and outfits.

"Wow, Barbies! I love barbies," she said sitting down on the floor in the living room to play.

'That'll keep the kid occupied for a while,' she thought with a laugh.

xxxxx

Rick sat next to the police officer who called only moments ago. At the moment she was on the phone with another officer. They were calling all the local stations trying to get Alexis' picture on all news so people would see it. It had been a few hours now since he got that horrific phone call that had changed his life forever. Detective Beckett hung up the phone, "Ok they all said they would run her picture and send the calls through the department."

"So what do we do now?"

"There's not much we can do but wait and see if anyone has spotted her. That and we have officers out there looking."

"So we just sit here?" he asked jumping to his feet angrily.

"I know this is hard for..."

"No there is no way I'm just going to sit here while my baby is out there all alone," he said.


End file.
